Beasts of the East

Chef's log: 1/2/09

Jim Morrison once said, "The west is the best." He must have been talking about the infamous Summer of '67. In the Spring of '09, the east will be the best. No matter which way you stir the pot, no matter which week you examine the polls, the overwhelming majority of top squads hail from the east. With all due respect to teams like UCLA, Gonzaga & Arizona St, the odds are stacked heavily in the east's favor.

Let's start with the creme de la creme, the Beluga in the caviar world, North Carolina. We won't delve too deep into a notion that has already received its deserved press, but UNC is by far the team to beat. If I were filling out my final four now, the only team I have supreme confidence in is UNC. They have a team of returning champions, a national player of the year debate within their own team (Hansbrough v Lawson), and a hall of fame coach in Roy Williams. They have depth, leadership, experience, explosive scoring, and intensity. They're blowing out ranked teams by 30 points.

Then you have the ACC. This coming Monday, if Wake Forest goes to BYU and pulls off a victory over the very competent Mountain West team, the ACC will have 3 teams in the top 4. (#1 UNC, #3 Duke, #4 Wake, thanks to losses by UCONN & Oklahoma) Other ACC teams like Clemson, Miami, Maryland, Virginia Tech, BC & FSU have talent as well. Sure, the latter share of these teams would have some difficulty against teams like Texas, UNLV & Oklahoma, but there is some growing depth here in the Atlantic.

Now to the Big East. The conference is and will be living up to the pre-season hype like a new Bobby Flay restaurant opening in NYC. With all the press and exposure the conference had and still has, this Monday the Big East should have 9 big east teams in the top 25. Sure Louisville has squandered a few games. Sure UCONN squeaked by Gonzaga. But underrated teams like Marquette, West Virginia & Georgetown are starting to make cases for themselves. And let us not neglect the resilient Orangemen who have a buzzerbeater loss to Cleveland St. as their only blemish. Notre Dame, Nova & obviously #2 ranked Pitt round out this group. They say the proof is in the pudding, and these teams taste good.

While the Big 12 and Big 10 are conferences on the rise, conferences with improved depth, come March the Final Four should contain at least 3, if not 4 teams from the east coast. Teams like UCLA, Oklahoma, perhaps USC (if they acquire quarterback Mark Sanchez) Gonzaga, Michigan St., & Texas will have something to say about that. Even darkhorse fan favorites like UNLV, ASU, & BYU will throw their best weapons at the boys from the coast. But in the end, they'll serve as accompanied side potatoes to the east's Kobe Beef Porterhouse.

Naked Chef

(Tonight's game to watch: ASU 11-1 @ Stanford 10-0.)